In this Book

  • Parallel Worlds: Genre, Discourse, and Poetics in Contemporary, Colonial, and Classic Maya Literature
  • Book
  • Edited by Kerry M. Hull and Michael D. Carrasco
  • 2012
  • Published by: University Press of Colorado
summary
Despite recent developments in epigraphy, ethnopoetics, and the literary investigation of colonial and modern materials, few studies have compared glyphic texts and historic Maya literatures. Parallel Worlds examines Maya writing and literary traditions from the Classic period until today, revealing remarkable continuities across time.

In this volume, contributions from leading scholars in Maya literary studies examine Maya discourse from Classic period hieroglyphic inscriptions to contemporary spoken narratives, focusing on parallelism to unite the literature historically. Contributors take an ethnopoetic approach, examining literary and verbal arts from a historical perspective, acknowledging that poetic form is as important as narrative content in deciphering what these writings reveal about ancient and contemporary worldviews.

Encompassing a variety of literary motifs, including humor, folklore, incantation, mythology, and more specific forms of parallelism such as couplets, chiasms, kennings, and hyperbatons, Parallel Worlds is a rich journey through Maya culture and pre-Columbian literature that will be of interest to students and scholars of anthropology, ethnography, Latin American history, epigraphy, comparative literature, language studies, indigenous studies, and mythology.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover, Title Page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
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  1. List of Illustrations
  2. pp. ix-xi
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  1. Introduction
  2. pp. 1-17
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  1. Part I. Finding Continuities in Maya Poetics and Literature
  1. 1. The Narrative Structure of Chol Folktales: One Thousand Years of Literary Tradition
  2. pp. 21-42
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  1. Part II. Establishing Traditions: Hieroglyphic Literature and Poetics
  1. 2. Syntactic Inversion (Hyperbaton) as a Literary Device in Maya Hieroglyphic Texts
  2. pp. 45-71
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  1. 3. Poetic Tenacity: A Diachronic Study of Kennings in Mayan Languages
  2. pp. 73-122
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  1. 4. The History, Rhetoric, and Poetics of Three Palenque Narratives
  2. pp. 123-160
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  1. 5. Understanding Discourse: Beyond Couplets and Calendrics First
  2. pp. 161-179
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  1. 6. Drawing and Designing with Words
  2. pp. 181-193
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  1. 7. Narrative Structure and the Drum Major Headdress
  2. pp. 195-219
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  1. Part III. From Glyphs to Letters: Colonial Maya Poetics and Literature
  1. 8. Creation Narratives in the Postclassic Maya Codices
  2. pp. 223-251
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  1. 9. Some Historical Continuities in Lowland Maya Magical Speech Genres: Keying Shamanic Performance
  2. pp. 253-269
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  1. 10. Appropriating Sacred Speech: Aesthetics and Authority in Colonial Ch’olti’
  2. pp. 271-282
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  1. 11. Poetics in the Popol Wuj
  2. pp. 283-309
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  1. 12. The Use of Chiasmus by the Ancient K’iche’ Maya
  2. pp. 311-336
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  1. Part IV. Keepers of Tradition: Modern Maya Poetics and Literature
  1. 13. Before Poetry, the Words: A Metalinguistic Digression
  2. pp. 339-374
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  1. 14. Humor through Yucatec Mayan Stories
  2. pp. 375-400
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  1. 15. A Comparison of Narrative Style in Mopan and Itzaj Mayan
  2. pp. 401-448
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  1. 16. The Lights Dim but Don’t Go Out on the Stars of Yucatec Maya Oral Literature
  2. pp. 449-470
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  1. 17. To Speak the Words of Colonial Tzotzil
  2. pp. 471-475
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  1. Glossary
  2. pp. 477-478
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 479-480
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 481-493
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